Key-ring lock.



D. 0. EN EARL.

KEY RING LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 7, 1913.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

WITNESSES COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH (IO-.WASHINDTON, D4C.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFIQE.

DARIUS COMSTOCK EN EARL, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

KEY-RING- LOCK.

Application filed November 7, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DARIUS CoMs'rooK EN EARL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Denver, in the county of Denver and State of Colorado, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Key-Bing Locks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in looks for key rings, hasps, and other pivoted members, and it consists in the combinations, constructions, and arrangements herein described and claimed.

An object of my invention is to provide a lock which is in the nature of a puzzle that may be readily operated by one who understands the construction and purpose of the look, but which is exceedingly diflicult to open by one who does not understand the operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide a lock of the type above described which needs no key, but which is operated by holding the parts in certain positions, these certain positions being necessary on account of balls which form cooperating members of the locking mechanism, and which must be retained in certain positions in order to effect the opening of the look.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the type described having few parts and which can therefore be cheaply made.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification and the novel features of the device will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated 1n the accompanying drawings formnig part of this application in which Figure 1 is a side view of a key ringprovided with my improved lock, Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the device, the outer shell being shown in section, Fig. 3 is a view slmilar to Fig. 2, the lock being shown open, Flg.

'4: is a section along the line 4c4t of Fig. 2,

looking in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 5 is a section along the line 55 of Fig. 2, Fig. 6 is a section along the line 66 of Fig. 2, the sleeve being omitted. Fig. 7 is a side view of the hinged port-ion, Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a stop member. Fig. 9 is an enlarged section through the lock showing one position of the parts, and Fig. 10 is a similar section showing another position of the parts.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

Serial No. 799,761.

In carrying out my invention I may make use of a ring such as that shown at 1. The end of the ring is provided with an L-shaped extension 2, which forms a locking member. A shoulder 2 forms a stop member for the shell as hereinafter explained.

Hinged at 3 to the body portion 1 of the ring is a locking member 4. This is provided with an enlarged cylindrical portion 4 having a circular groove 49 and a wedgeshaped groove 4 extending at right angles to the groove 4:. At one end of the groove 4 is a transverse bore 4* arranged to receive the laterally extending stem 5 of a stop member 5, which is pressed upon by a spring 6. On each side of thegroove 4 are pockets like those shown at 7 in Fig. 5. The enlarged portion 4 of the hinged member has an L-shaped extension 4? arranged to cooperate with the extension 2 of the member 1 to lock the parts together as shown in Fig. 2.

At 8 I have shown a slidable sleeve or shell which is provided with an inner annular groove 8* smaller than the groove 4t The widths of these two grooves P and 8 are substantially in the ratio of 3 to 2,

thus the groove 4* in the part 4* may be three-eighths of an inch in width, while the groove 8' may be two-eighths of an inch. The sleeve or shell is arranged to bear on the outside of the enlarged portion 4?. It is provided with an inwardly extending tongue 8 and with a shoulder 8 It'will be observed that the provision of the groove 4t leaves a flange 4 adjacent to the groove.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device the operation thereof may be readily understood. In assembling the device steel balls 9 are placed in the pockets 7, the member 4 being held in the position shown in Fig. 7. The shell or sleeve 8 is now slipped over the end 43 and rotated until the tongue 8 comes into registration with the stop member 5. The

latter is pushed downwardly until the end of the tongue 8 has passed over the end of the member 5 far enough to hold it down,

while the sleeve is being pushed still farther on, t. 6., toward the hinge 3. The sleeve is now in the position shown in Fig. 8. The hinged member is now swung downwardly so as to engage the locking member 2. The sleeve 8 is shifted away from the hinge 8 over the locking member 2, as shown in Fig. 2. If now the key ring is inverted or shaken the balls will pass out of the pockets and will roll down the alined grooves into some such position as that shown in Fig. 5. It is now impossible to pull back the sleeve, since the balls project partly into the groove 8 in the sleeve. A person who is given the lock to release will find it exceedingly difficult to do so because he does not understand the construction of the same.

It will be noted that I have placed certain indicating marks 10 on the end of the sleeve and other indicating marks 11 on the member 4-. The marks on the shell may indicate the position of the tongue 8, while the marks on the member 4: indicate the relative positions of the pockets 7. Now when it is desired to open the device the key ring is held in substantially the position shown in Fig. 7 in which position it will be observed that the pockets are on the upper side of the member 4. The first act in connection with opening the device is to slide the sleeve 8 as far as it will go away from the hinge 3. The position of the parts after this movement is shown in Fig. 9, from which it will be observed that the balls will now be held between the edge of the groove l farthest from the hinge 3 on one side and the edge of the groove 8* nearest to the hinge 3 on the other. The sleeve is now turned ina clockwise direction when looking from the end of the sleeve nearest to the hinge 3. This will cause the balls to be carried along in the groove 4 around toward one of the pockets 7 at a rate which is approximately one-half as fast as the sleeve itself is turning. Now when the pocket is reached the sleeve is moved in the opposite direction, 2'. 6., toward the hinge 3 and the ball will drop in the pocket and'remain there. It will be observed that the tongue 8 prevents the sleeve from further movement by its en gagement with the flange 4, this bringing the ball to substantially the center of the groove 4 where it freely drops into the pocket 7, as above stated. As soon as the sleeve is moved toward the hinge as inclicated in Fig. 10, the second ball, which, of course was being carried around with the first ball is now free and immediately drops to the bottom of the groove l". With the parts in the position shownin Fig. 10, i. c. with the tongue 8 bearing against the flange 4: and the pocket 7 which contains one of the balls in a position such as that shown in Fig. 7 on the upper side of the device, so as not to dislodge the ball already pocketed, the sleeve is rotated so as to bring the tongue 8 in such a position that its angular distance around to the springpressed stop member 5 measured in a direction away from the pocketed ball (not past it) is twice that of the distance of the ball in the bottom of the groove to the springpressed stop member 5. This can be ascertained by noting the mark which indicates the position of the tongue. The sleeve is again pressed into the position shown in Fig. 9 and is rotated in a clockwise direction looking from the hinge, z. 6., in the opposite direction to that in which it was rotated at first in order to pocket the first ball. The second ball which was at the bottom of the groove will now be carried up- 'wardly with the sleeve, but the sleeve will rotate twice as fast. The second ball will be carried past the unoccupied pocket owing to the friction between the edges of the sleeve and the body portion and will be forced against the spring stop member 5.

This is provided with a beveled portion 5*,

which will allow the sleeve to ride on top of the spring-pressed portion thus forcmg it downwardly. 'If the positions of the tongue 8 and of the ball in the bottom of the groove were correctly gaged the tongue 8 will arrive at the spring-pressed member 5 at the same time that the second ball does. The second ball and the tongue being in alinement, and the stop member 5 being pressed downwardly by the ball, and the pocketed ball being out of the way, the sleeve may now he slipped forwardly, i. 6., toward the hinged end, the tongue 8 on the sleeve 8 entering the groove 4, and when it is slipped far enough the device may be opened up, as shown in Fig. 3.

I claim 1. In a locking device, a stationary member, a hinged member arranged to engage said stationary member, said hinged member being provided with an annular groove and having an inwardly extending pocket communicating with said groove and a longitudinal groove intersecting said annular groove, a sleeve arranged to slide on saidhinged member and having a groove arranged to register with said first named groove and being provided with a tongue arranged to enter said longitudinal groove, said sleeve being rotatable on said hinged portion to bring said tongue into registration with said longitudinal grooves, and balls disposed within said annular grooves.

2. In a locking device for key rings and the like, the combination wit-h a body por- I tiguous to said first mentioned groove on each side of said spring-pressed member, a tongue carried by said sleeve and adapted to register With said longitudinal grooves, and balls disposed Within said annular grooves.

3. In a locking device, a fixed member, a hinged member arranged to engage said fixed member, said hinged member being provided with an annular groove and having invvardl extending pockets communicating With sai groove, said hinged member having a longitudinal groove, a sleeve arranged to slide longitudinally onsaid hinged member and to rotate thereon, said sleeve being provided With a tongue arranged to enter said longitudinal groove, and balls disposed in said first named grooves and arranged to enter said pocket thereby permitting the longitudinal movement of the sleeve relative to the hinged member.

4:. In a locking device, a fixed member, a hinged member arranged to engage said fixed member, a sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted on said hinged member and adapted to slide over a portion of said fixed member, said hinged member and said sleeve being provided With registering grooves, and balls carried in said grooves, said hinged member being provided With pockets communicating With its groove.

5. In a locking device, a fixed member, a hinged member arranged to engage said fixed member, a sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted on said hinged member and adapted to slide over a portion of said fixed member, said hinged member and said sleeve being provided With registering grooves, balls carried in said grooves, said hinged member being provided With pockets communicating with its groove, said hinged member having a longitudinal groove intersecting the first named groove, and a spring-pressed stop member disposed in said longitudinal groove and arranged to project into said first named groove, one edge of said spring-pressed stop member being provided With a beveled portion for engagement by the balls.

6. In a locking device, a fixed member, a hinged member arranged to engage said fixed member, said hinged member being provided With an annular groove and having a flange adjacent to the groove and a longitudinal slot or groove at right angles to and intersecting said first named groove, a sleeve or shell slidably and rot-atably disposed on said hinged member and being provided With a tongue arranged to engage said flange in one position, said tongue being arranged to register With said longitudinal groove in another position, said sleeve being provided with an inner annular groove arranged to register With said first mentioned groove, balls disposed in the registering grooves, said hinged member being provided With pockets for receiving the balls, thereby retracting them from the groove in the sleeve and permitting the slidable movement of the latter.

DARIUS COMSTOCK EN EARL.

Witnesses:

EDWIN U. SNIFFIN, E. SUMNER WALKER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, 

